ICANN Proposals Put Domain Names at Risk
If you manage any of the 14 generic top level domains, such as .com, .org and .biz, then you risk losing them if they don't keep your registrar informed of your current contact details. Under new proposals from The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which is responsible for worldwide domain name policy, every domain owner will be obliged to update their full contact details on ICANN's publicly available WHOIS database annually. The proposal is expected to come into force by the end of May. Icann wants to increase the accuracy of its records by forcing owners to keep their details updated, which would help it resolve possible disputes. Although domain owners currently have to supply full details to the WHOIS database, many do not and the policy has not been widely enforced leading to occasional confusion about domain ownership. Under the new rules, domains with incomplete or incorrect records will be suspended for 15 days and then deleted if the records are still not amended. ICANN's efforts could be affected by the reluctance of owners to place their details on a public database, which could be 'harvested' and used by spammers and bulk mailers. [Full story: Icann changes put domain names at risk - VNU]
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